Wednesday, 12 January 2011

As some of you know, he took 2010 off as a gap year, before he's off to join the Army (to train as a helicopter pilot... he's too tall to fit into a jet, according to the ADF!)

So where does the son of a book whore and foodie choose to work during his gap year?

IN A BOOK SHOP IN CAMBERWELL!!!

It's kinda like a smack addict having a son who works in a meth lab.

So, while the north of my country experiences the worst flooding in history, with 75% of the state of Queensland declared a state of emergency, it's also pissing down here in Melbourne Town.

Not to the extent of what's going on up North, but enough that Lima Bean and his most beautiful and succulent girlfriend, The Pussy Kat, made me a deal this morning.

Drive them to work in Camberwell and they'd buy me breakfast. AND bring me home a book (Geoffrey Robertson's treatise on why the Canonical legal system of the Vatican encourages and perpetuates paedophilia, no less!)

**sigh**

I hate that my son knows how to enable me.

So we braved the rain, the tram tracks, the aqua-plane-ing of the car, the plethora of dickhead drivers through the Camberwell junction and finally made it to Cattivo.

Now if you are a languages freak (as opposed to a language/spelling/grammar/syntax freak, of which I am both.), you'll know that cattivo is Italian for "naughty" as in bad or wicked. It's possibly derived from the Latin "capttivus" meaning "caught by the Devil"

And Cattivo has captivate me in just one sitting.

From the communal table, to the funky retro 50's music (sets at an excellent volume), to the waft of fresh ginger as they freshly squeezed our breakfast juice (I ordered orange, pineapple, carrot and ginger), everything was perfect.

Including the waitresses response to me ordering "I'd like you to move the entire cafe closer to where I live, please"

**wink**

I had the omelette with pancetta, fresh tomato and spinach.

It was perfection on a plate.

The portion size was just right, the omelette was light and fluff and thick, no scrimping on the eggs, and it was folded over the other ingredients, rather than having them incorporated into the omelette itself, which is the "proper" way to fill an omlette. The heat of the omlette warmed up the tomatoes and spinach, so they retained their fresh characteristics, which lent a quite different flavour and texture than if they had been cooked in with the egg mix.

It was served with a single piece of perfectly toasted sourdough.

The only down side? pre-packed butter.

Served with a knob of Lurpak, this would have achieved taste-varna.

Lima Bean and The Kat had the crepes, made fresh and filled with ricotta, topped with fresh strawberries and a glaze that tasted like it had organic honey in it.

Not my cuppa tea for breakfast, but they loved. it.

Urban spoon says:

In a town where breakfast restaurants are more frequent and on every corner, much like McArches, and most serve food of the same McArches standard, it's quite awesome to find a breakfast place, that has a commitment to using fresh ingredients in a really respectful way.

About Me

46 year old mother of 2 and step mother of 3. Mad "Auntie Purple" to about 47.
Wild, untameable hair, purple glasses and an irreverent sense of humour. Everything else is subject to change without notice.